On June 11, 2025, SpaceX raised $75 billion in its IPO — the largest initial public offering in American history. The shares (ticker SPCX) opened at $135 and rose 19% on the first trading day, closing at $161. The company's valuation reached $1.77 trillion — more than Microsoft. According to calculations by Reuters and Bloomberg, this automatically made Elon Musk the first trillionaire in human history.
Where the money really lies
Musk's wealth structure now looks like this: approximately $866 billion is his stake in SpaceX, with the rest distributed among Tesla, xAI, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and the social network X. Before the IPO, Forbes valued his capital at approximately $780 billion. In other words, one placement added more than the combined wealth of the second-richest person on the list — Google founder Larry Page ($306 billion).
Paradox: a trillion-dollar valuation on a loss-making company
SpaceX is profitable by adjusted EBITDA ($6.6 billion in 2025), but by GAAP standards it reports losses — in just the first quarter of 2026, net losses totaled $4.28 billion, and accumulated deficit reached $41.3 billion. The reason is massive investments in AI and infrastructure.
"The estimated valuation of the company at $1.77 trillion is largely based on technologies that will require years or even decades for commercial profitability,"
analysts cited by NV
In other words, the market is buying not current cash flow, but a bet on Starship, Starlink, and commercial expansion into space. This is not uncommon for tech IPOs, but rare on this scale.
Context that is usually omitted
The IPO took place more than a year after Musk left the Trump administration, where he led the controversial DOGE government spending reduction project. During that time, Tesla shares — already under pressure due to the CEO's distraction — managed to recover. The success of SpaceX on the stock market essentially "rebooted" Musk's public image: from a cost-cutting government official back to a visionary founder.
- $75 billion raised in IPO — a record for the United States
- +19% on the first day of trading (closing at $161)
- $866 billion — the value of Musk's stake in SpaceX after the placement
- $41.3 billion — the company's accumulated deficit under GAAP
According to forecasts, SpaceX's IPO could trigger a wave of public listings among competitors — notably OpenAI and Anthropic are considering placements later this year. If these companies repeat the "growth over profit" model, the question is whether the market can sustain another trillion-dollar revaluation — or if a correction will come before Starship reaches Mars.
